


Be Heard, Be Strong, Be Proud

by ohheykat



Category: The Prom - Sklar/Beguelin/Martin
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-17
Updated: 2019-11-17
Packaged: 2021-02-08 02:21:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21468475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohheykat/pseuds/ohheykat
Summary: When Edgewater's dictator-like principal decides that she will cut the music program, five unlikely strangers come together to try and save it. Despite the odds, they take on the administration to begin the revolution that will change the nation.Aka: The Lemonade Mouth au
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	Be Heard, Be Strong, Be Proud

_ Poets. Geniuses. Revolutionaries. Lemonade Mouth has been called all of these things. But the real story, the story of how our band came to be, is a mystery to them all. I wonder if they’d believe it if I told them that it all started… right here. Detention.  _

* * *

“The rules in here are simple,” Barry Glickman, Edgewater’s music teacher and retired Broadway wannabe begins as he faces the so-called delinquents who had been placed in his detention. “No eating, no drinking, no sleeping, no talking, no tapping, no texting. You break a rule, I add another day of detention. Are we clear? Great.” 

All around me sat four people who I had never met before, but would soon become the most important people in my life. Jess Monae, lead guitar. Emma Nolan, keyboard. Shelby Gonzales, bass. Kaylee Klein, drum goddess. And me, Alyssa Greene, future frontman for Lemonade Mouth. It was this ragtag group of five that started it all. 

“Alright, I have decided rather than let you twiddle your little thumbs for the next hour, we are going to put those thumbs to use. We are going to clean up around here. We’re going to unpack and we’re going to turn this storage room into a music room!” Mr. Glickman sighs before he continues. “I mean, we might as well make the best of it right? We’ve been banished to the basement!”

Of course, as soon as he said that, we could all hear the flushing of the toilet upstairs. The basement in our school had always had that problem, with classrooms directly below the bathrooms constantly getting leaks from the toilets above. This didn’t surprise me, but it did seem to surprise Mr. Glickman.

“Did you hear that?” he shouted, staring up at the ceiling in disbelief. “You know what? If they spent a fraction of what that new gymnasium cost to keep this music program alive, I just-” He’s cut off again by the sound of another toilet flushing. “That is it! That is it!”

_ But, if I’m gonna tell you this right. I need to go back to the beginning: the morning it all began.  _

We were maybe a month into the school year, and none of us knew each other. Jess was just transferring into the school, which made her a complete outsider to anyone here. Like all transfer students, she had a meeting with our principal, who just happened to be my mother. 

Emma, meanwhile, was struggling with the idea of her grandmother dating someone who was a little younger than her, her boyfriend Alex. On this particular day, Alex’s car had broken down, so Betsy was dropping him off at work before dropping Emma at school. “Gram, don’t you think it’s a little weird that your boyfriend isn’t retired yet?” she asked, not wanting to sound rude, but still concerned.

“Emma, he’s in his fifties,” her grandmother shook her head, chuckling a little. “He continues to teach because he loves children.”

The blonde had just rolled her eyes. “I guess.”

“Give Alex a chance,” Betsy pleaded, turning to face her granddaughter. “For me?”

  
“Why is everything about Alex? Alex wants Chinese food, let’s watch Alex’s favorite show, can’t pick you up from piano practice because Alex called-”

“Hey, I apologized for that.”

“You know what, whatever. Let’s just go. I’m gonna be late for my history presentation.”  
At the same time, Kaylee was preparing for soccer tryouts, a team she didn’t even want to be a part of. Her nervousness was shining through at the moment, however, as she continuously drummed on the interior of her father’s car. That was until her father glanced back at her, and she stopped entirely. “Sorry,” she mumbled, shoving her drumsticks into her backpack. 

“Are you excited Kaylee?” her mother asked, and when she didn’t get a response then prompted, “Soccer tryouts are today?”  
“Oh, right, yeah, um, I’m thrilled.”

Her father smiled at him, before pulling out an old soccer ball. “Your mother-”

“We,” his mother corrected.  
“Right. We thought you might like to have this today, for luck.”

“It was your brothers. Grey scored the winning goal at state finals with that ball,” as she finishes her sentence, she begins to cry softly.

“Mom, what are you crying for?” Kaylee asks, staring at her as if she’d lost her mind. “Grey’s just away at college.”

Before she can get an answer, she slides out the door of the car and begins heading towards the school. Just as she’s approaching the curb she catches a glance at the most beautiful girl she had ever seen sitting in the passenger seat of a car. That girl was Shelby Gonzales. 

“Remember, you need to speak to your teachers about extra credit,” her father had began before she could escape the car. “You need to get your GPA up for your college applications.”

“But that’s a couple of years away-”

“It’s never too soon to think about your future, Shelby.”

  
“Yes dad,” she began to open her door, but he stopped her.

“Is that lipstick?”

“No dad-”

  
“Because you’re too young for that kind of thing.”

“I know dad. I need to go, I’m late,” she finally got out of the car and began making her way towards the school. 

I saw her as she passed my bike, just as I too was trying to enter the school. Being as clumsy as I was, I managed to drop all of my stuff, but no one stopped to help. Typical.

Shelby was too busy rushing off to the bathroom in order to change out of the outfit her father had approved of. Her parents were strict, maybe even stricter than mine, so it made sense that she would have a backup outfit for the day. As she left the bathroom, her boyfriend ran up to greet her. “Hey, there you are!”

“Hey, Kev, you scared me,” she put her hand over her chest dramatically. 

“I’ve been looking all over for you,” he smiled, taking her hand as they walked down the hallway. “So the band and I are gonna skip first period and head to Nick’s to practice for the Halloween bash. You wanna come?”  
“Sure I’d love- I can’t,” she shakes her head. “You know what my dad will do.”  
“Come on,” he pleads, making those puppy dog eyes she could hardly ever resist. 

“Maybe this weekend, I’ll tell my dad I have extra credit or-”

“No, Shelbs, I have band practice all weekend plus soccer. Just this once? You don’t have to worry about Greene. She’s with the new girl.”  
Right, that meeting with my mom. See, every transfer to Edgewater has to have one. When Mr. Hawkins, our old principal, retired, Mom made it a law. She didn’t want a single person to come into this school without being approved by her first. Jess definitely didn’t fit what was normally considered to be approved.

“I think Jess is still working through some anger issues from the move,” her mother said as soon as the meeting began.

“Yes, I can see that,” my mom sighed. “But I’m afraid that shirt is going to have to go.”

Jess was wearing a bright orange shirt with the words “Question Authority” printed bolding across the front. Honestly, I’m surprised Mom even let her into the building. “What? Is there some kind of dress code here?” she asked, holding back an eye-roll.

“Well, no, but there is an invisible line, and that shirt crosses it.”  
“What about freedom of expression? Do you have that here?”

“Jess,” her mom interrupts, handing her the blazer she was wearing. “Just cover up for today, alright?”

Jess just rolled her eyes, so Mom rose from her chair. “Jess, is it?” she began, asserting her authority by staring down at her. “I run a tight ship here. I don’t know how they did things in Rhode Island, but here my students respect my rules. Written or unwritten.”

As she glanced back down at Jess, all she could see was a smirk across her face as her eyes traveled to something behind my mother. Mom turned around, and staring back at her on the security camera screens were two students: Shelby and Kevin. Seemed like not everyone followed the rules here.

“Please don’t call my dad,” Shelby pleaded ten minutes later in the office. “He doesn’t even want me alone with a boy! If he found out I skipped class with one he would never let me out of the house!”

My mother sighed. “This is your first infraction, and you are an honor roll student. I won’t call your father… this time. But if I ever catch you skipping class again-”

“You won’t, I promise.”

She wrote her a detention notice and sent her on her way, which Shelby could live with. She would figure out some way to explain why she was late getting home to her father later. For now, all she cared was that he had no idea what she and Kevin had been doing that morning.

Remember that history presentation Emma mentioned? Well, that was happening while all of the chaos with Jess and Shelby had been happening. It was nearly the end of the period, and now it was her time to go. “Emma? You’re up.”

As she pulled her folder out to get her notes, she found it full of coloring sheets instead. She began to panic. “We’re waiting,” her teacher prompted.

“I’m so sorry,” she mumbled, searching through her backpack.

“Emma?” a familiar voice rang out.

She looked up to see Alex standing there, holding an identical red folder. “I have your folder,” he says sheepishly, handing it to her.

“Emma, tell your dad to get back to bingo,” Nick teased. 

“You must be Emma’s father,” his teacher said, trying to keep the classroom calm.

“He’s not my dad!” Emma yelled, finally reaching her breaking point. “Okay? Are you kidding me? Look at him! Are you stupid?”

That was the wrong thing to say to Mr. Oliver of all people. Before he could get another word in, he had a tiny pink slip in his hands with the word “detention” written all over it. 

“So, what’d you get?” Kevin asked as his girlfriend exited the principal’s office. 

“Detention,” Shelby sighed. “But at least we’ll be together… right?”

“Actually, he let me off with a warning. With the band and soccer, I just can’t afford to miss practice. But I’ll see you at lunch!”

“Right, of course,” Shelby kissed his cheek before he walked away. “Unbelievable. This is unbelievable.”

* * *

Barry Glickman had been our music teacher since freshman year. Had any of us actually taken music class, maybe we would have cared about the arts programs, but we didn’t. He was the only advocate that the music program had, and currently, he was chasing my mother down as she rode down the hallway. “What can I tell you, Barry?” she asked as he finally caught up.

“That you put the same value on the arts as you do sports!” he yells. “You’ve cut the music budget to zero, you’ve moved my classroom down to the basement, and for what? Some gymnasium?”

Mom turns around and stares dead into Mr. Glickman’s eyes. “This is not some gymnasium. Sports bring donors, donors bring money, and money makes my school run.”

“Your school?”

She rolls her eyes. “Times are tough, Barry. Somebody has to make the tough decisions around here, and that someone is me.”  
She walks away without another word, stopping to admire the many trophies in the display case by the janitor's office. Inside that janitor’s office was a young girl who was simply trying to hide from the rest of the world. It was me, I was that girl. You see, the first period for me happens to be the public speaking class my mother had forced me to take. The idea o standing in front of an entire class of people and talk was mortifying, to say the least, so I normally hid in here to read whatever book I was working on. Unfortunately, that day as I was reading, I managed to knock down every broom inside of there, and I wasn’t very quiet about it. The door opened suddenly, and I smiled sheepishly at Mom as she handed me a pink slip. “We’ve talked about this, Alyssa.”

“Yes ma’am,” I sighed, taking the slip before she closed the door once again. This wasn’t the first time she had caught me here, and it probably wouldn’t be the last.

The next period of the day happened to be gym for almost everyone, which meant soccer tryouts were happening. The guys and the girls were trying out together because there was limited space on the field, and Nick and Kevin were using this to their full advantage. Kaylee, who stood next to them, was struggling to keep up with even the simplest of drills and seemed to get distracted by the littlest things. The boys’ coach pulled the two boys to the side, whispering under his breath, “Are you sure that’s Grey Klein’s sister?”

“Yeah,” Nick said, before turning towards Kaylee. “C’mon Klein you gotta kick the ball!”

As if to demonstrate, he sent the ball in front of him soaring right into Kaylee’s shoulder. “That’s it!” she screamed, picking up the ball she was supposed to kick. “I don’t wanna play soccer, I don’t want your abuse, and I certainly don’t want my brother’s ball!”

She hurled the ball towards Nick’s head, but he moved out of the way last minute, leaving it to hit the only other target out there: her coach. “Oof,” Nick shook his head. “I think she did that on purpose, Coach.”

Kaylee’s eyes widened as the coach pointed at her, before writing her a little pink slip. This day could not possibly get any worse.

Of course, we all thought that until the assembly right before lunch in the gym. Mom was unveiling the brand new gym with the sponsors who had helped pay for it, Turbo Blast. Jess had found herself sitting alone on the bleachers, but she didn’t mind. That was, of course, until two of the cheerleaders, Kat and Emma (no, not our Emma, a different Emma) came up to her. “Hey,” Kat said with false sweetness. 

“Hey,” Jess responded, falling for the fake smile.

“Why don’t you find another seat?” the smile on Kat’s face remained, but her eyes were dark now.

“Why don’t you make me?” Jess asked, the sass in her voice becoming evident again. 

“Alright move it,” Nick said, moving others out of the way so the girls could sit with them.

“Our assembly today is about,” Mom began. “Are you ready? Personal empowerment. That’s right. Dig deep inside. Find the power inside to change the world. This has to come from a special student. An empowered student! Someone who is willing to go above and beyond for Mesa High.”

“You want empowered students?” Jess mumbled to herself, gripping the blazer that was covering the shirt that hadn’t been approved. 

“I know it’s all within you-”

“Then you’re gonna get them,” she stood up suddenly, pulling the blazer off of her. “My shirt! My decision!”

“Sit down!” Nick called from behind her, but she chose to ignore him. 

“Okay, don’t let your school take away your rights! Be heard, use your voice! C’mon! He can’t tell you what to wear, who to be, you can wear what you want! We can wear whatever we want! I can wear my own t-shirt! I can wear what I want, today, tomorrow, any day!”

Would you be surprised if I told you she got a detention for that? Well, you shouldn’t be. So, by the end of the day, Jess found herself following the directions on her little pink slip down to the basement, but when she got there she was suddenly lost. There was so much stuff down there that it was like an entirely different world. “You lost?” the head of our AV club, Sig, greeted her as she looked around.

“Oh no, I’m-”

“Detention huh? Follow me.”

“What is this place?” she asked, still in awe at everything happening around her.

“This is the underground,” Sig smiles. “There’s the robotics club,” she points to a group of kids messing with a bunch of metal pieces. “Hey Maddie, working hard? Shakespeare society, chess club,” she turns to whisper towards Jess. “He hasn’t found a partner in months. Ballet, mathletes, art club, even the school newspaper. Hey Wisdom, looking good! Anything that doesn’t fit Principal Greene’s mold, you’ll find it down here. This is my stop, AV club”

“You’re telling me Greene just stuck your clubs in the basement?” these were some of the coolest places Jess had ever seen, how could they be down here?  
“Pretty much. Unless you’re wearing a varsity jacket or a cheer skirt around here you’re basically-”

“Invisible,” Jess finishes for her, and Sig smiles. 

“See? You’re catching on already! Detention’s at the end of the hall, good luck!”

She’s gone before Jess can get another word in, so she continues down the hallway. Right next to the music room she finds the Mel’s Organic Lemonade Machine, a drink machine that had to be older than any of us. She was surprised to find it still running, but it did because she got a cold one as soon as she pressed the button. Emma had the same idea, as did Shelby, Kaylee, and even me. All five of us walked through that door having no idea what would happen next.

Some will call it an accident, but I’ll let you in on a little secret: I don’t believe in accidents. No matter how unlikely, the string of events that led us to become the band we would become, I believe they had a reason for happening. 

_ See, I believe there is a moment where the stars align and fates collide, creating that perfect union. And although none of us knew it yet, this was that moment. _


End file.
